Holder

Amber Holder
CAS 137H
Prof. Hlavacik
11/1/13

American society universally frowns upon adultery. However, we see

extramarital affairs sensationalized and romanticized so often in media. Shows like
Scandal by Shonda Rhimes and The Good Wife by Robert and Michelle King present
the issue of presidential and politician extra marital affairs along with the complex
issues that accompany it. The popularity of these shows ultimately suggests that the
way society perceives affairs has changed drastically. Americans viewed the affairs of
John F. Kennedy differently than the recent indiscretions of Elliot Spitzer, Anthony
Weiner, John Edwards, and most of all, Bill Clinton. While Kennedys behavior was
largely accepted, the more recent politicians faced intense media scrutiny, criticism
and rejection. Although the media frenzies surrounding most of these recent scandals
are greatly indicative of a complete rejection of adultery, the period of transition
between Kennedy and Clinton is most worth examining. Ultimately, the markedly
different treatment between Kennedy and Clinton points to a shift in the societal
perception of adultery.
Adultery is the act of carrying on a separate emotional or sexual relationship
outside of an established committed relationship, usually a marriage. The word
adultery also often signifies the violation of something. What exactly makes adultery
so abhorrent, especially in public figures? What makes it more abhorrent today than
in the 1960s? Nothing about the act in itself is any more acceptable today than it was
before. However, the relationship between the media, politicians, and constituents

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has changed and that change has made the repercussions for adultery more severe.
Marriage has been around for centuries and presidents have been cheating since the
creation of the presidency. The media, on the other hand, has evolved to serve every
small wish and whim of the people, and has basically done away with the idea of
privacy. Essentially, the cause of the societal perception lies primarily with the
change in news reporting and mass media; and secondarily with the evolving role of
women in society.
Although marriage has not gone through so revolutionary a change as
journalism and mass media, there have been shifts in its prevalence throughout the
years. As reported by the CDC National Vital Statistics, the crude divorce rate in the
1960s was 2.2 per 1,000 population (CDC). The divorce in 1993, when President
Clinton took office, was 4.6 per 1,000 population (CDC). Divorce was not by any
means socially unacceptable in the 1960s, but the American people expected the
president to be a wholesome man with a wife and family. In the 1960s, there were
different expectations for politicians wives. They were supposed to be beautiful
model homemakers, perfect mothers, and fashion icons. They were also supposed to
be quiet, and submissive. However, the turning point for womens rights came during
the mid- and late 1960s, after Kennedys time. The National Organization for Women
was created in 1966 and in 1968, feminists protested at the Miss America contest in
Atlantic City, arguing that the pageant was sexist (Walsh). Even in Clintons time, it
was obvious that him and his wife were much more evenly matched. She was
intelligent, outspoken, and put together. The fact that Hillary was much more Bills
equal than Jackie was Johns makes it easier to condemn President Clinton. President

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Kennedy had to choose a wife based on much stricter criteria than President Clinton
did. Yet despite that fact, Clinton still cheated. That makes it seem like more an act of
willfulness and laziness than genuine unhappiness.
Presidential behavior has remained somewhat the same. Although there have
been no major presidential scandals since Bill Clintons, there have been many
federal official scandals (senators, representatives, judges). Dating back to the
accusations of Thomas Jefferson fathering the children of a slave, extra marital
relationships have always been in the picture when it comes to the presidency. In the
1850s rumors abounded that President James Buchanan was having a homosexual
affair (which in its time was a whole another level of scandalous). President Grover
Cleveland was rumored to be paying child support, and President Harding was
rumored to be have had two affairs (Ayres). Although presidents had had affairs
before, Kennedy was the first playboy, a nickname that went hand in hand with his
being the youngest man to be elected to the presidency of the United States. The next
presidential scandal was Bill Clintons, which involved him lying under oath, and led
to his impeachment. Presidential behavior remains unchanged; it stands to reason that
recent presidents have just gotten better at hiding affairs. Recently, senators have been
the main focus of extra marital affair scandals, like John Edwards (D-NC) and
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) as well as New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and CIA
director General David Petraeus. All of these men either failed to be reelected or
resigned after news of the scandal broke, which is starkly different from how widely
ignored or accepted Kennedys affairs were.

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Kennedy was a different kind of president. He was seen as a young, energetic,

charismatic man with much to give. He was the youngest man to be elected, the first
non-Protestant president and the first president to properly take advantage of media
opportunities. Kennedys bid for the presidency was catapulted to success by the
televised debates between him and Richard Nixon. Kennedy and his team understood
that television was the new most popular media and they acted accordingly. Simply
by having Kennedy wear the appropriate makeup, Kennedys team influenced the
American public into an instinctively positive reaction towards him rather than his
opponent, Republican Richard Nixon. It almost goes hand in hand that so young a
president might also be a very virile president. The American people gave more
leeway to Kennedy than recent presidents have gotten. Also, in contrast to Clinton,
evidence of Kennedys transgressions came to light after his death. Part of what made
the accusations against Clinton so sensational is that he was still the sitting president
(Ayres). Most importantly, the media felt a connection to Kennedy that allowed for
him to keep his escapades secret (Buonpastore).
President Clinton, however, did not enjoy the benefits of a close relationship
with the media the way that President Kennedy did. His political career was plagued
with small scandals before he even reached the White House. He was also president
in a different time: a time where the news media actually brought to light his
transgressions. Clinton also had to contend with the use of the Internet to distribute
mass media. The story of the scandal actually broke online when major news outlets
were scared of the risks of covering the story (Buonpastore). President Clintons
ratings were incredibly high during his impeachment proceedings, given the situation.

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Not only were people aware of the affair, they were also aware that the affair was
decidedly a part of his private life, and there was no reason to assume it would affect
his job as president. It is likely that similar sentiments were the reason Kennedys
affairs were ignored. However, the people deciding to see past Kennedys affairs were
not the constituents but the news moguls. Therein lies the fundamental difference
between Clinton and Kennedy. It is not implausible to think that the American people
would have still revered Kennedy despite his numerous affairs, because of all the
other factors that made him a worthy president. The American people did not have a
choice. Undoubtedly Kennedys affairs deserved attention more because they could
have actually affected the safety and security of the nation. Kennedy was linked to a
German spy, Ellen Rometsch, whom his brother arranged to have deported and paid
off (Buonpastore). Kennedy was also linked to Judith Exner Campbell, who was
rumored to have mafia ties and helped Kennedy communicated with mafia leaders
(Buonpastore). Not only did Kennedy have affairs, they were numerous. While some
might be unfounded allegations, others have strong indications of validity. With so
much conjecture, the media should have easily been able to find evidence, but the
politics of the time simply saw no market for that kind of reporting. The news media
of the 1960s, with its caution, did the American public an incredible disservice.
Technology improves exponentially for every generation, and the technology
in media might have been what saved Kennedy from enormous scandal. Today, if
anyone gets even a whiff of a scandal, they can post it online and essentially
guarantee it will reach a large audience. In Kennedys time, there were major players
in the news business, and if they did not feel something was newsworthy, it simply

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would not be public. The American public was informed at the discretion of choice
individuals. It is possible that the birth of the 24-hour news cycle has resulted in over
reporting, but the public is at least offered basically everything they could be
interested in so long as it does not compromise national security. There are really no
boundaries or expectations today between the media and public figures. If a president
today was rumored to be having an affair and the major news outlets did not report,
than the gossip magazines would. Today everything has the possibility of being
newsworthy and is treated as such. Clinton was hurt by this doctrine, while Kennedy
was able to enjoy the benefits of living in a time before it. The reason, also, that
reports today are more credible and accepted is because journalists are held to a much
higher standard. Back in the times of almost every president before Kennedy, reports
of indiscreet behavior were mostly gossip, with no concrete proof. In contrast, as part
of the investigation during President Clintons impeachment, Monica Lewinsky
turned over a dress stained with the Presidents semen (Starr). When reporting events
of such large scope today, journalists are expected to have incontrovertible proof or
evidence. The combination of the need for hard facts and reporting anything and
everything makes the news media today a much more efficient system than before. So
many more people need to be involved that it is impossible to not report something
like a presidential affair.
The 1960s was a decade of change for women and womens rights. Women
were starting to escape and subvert the roles, joining the workforce, and obtaining
higher education. They were beginning to expect more. However, Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy was not meant to be an icon of change. This was a time where people still

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perceived men as those who act and women as those who are acted upon. Then, it is
likely that the attitude towards Kennedys affair was that Jackie was not good enough.
The perception of women had not completely shifted to that of equal beings yet. The
American public adored President Kennedy and was unlikely to blame him for the
affair. In President Clintons time, women were at a much more equal level. As
reported by the National Center of Education Statistics, the rate of female enrollment
in college was 37.9 percent. In 1990, the rate was 62.0, compared to the male rate at
57.8. Although the figures are closer, the fact that women were enrolling in higher
percentages points to the strong shift towards women in the workforce and as leaders
in American society. By 1998, the figures are even more telling, with women at 69.1
percent and men at 62.4. Jacqueline Kennedy was a college graduate, but in her time,
she was not reasonably expected to do anything with her degree. The changing role of
women is even reflected in the differing makeup of the two families. Hillary Clinton
is mother to only Chelsea Clinton, while Jacqueline Kennedy gave birth to four
children. While conditions for women were not necessarily poor in the 1960s, gender
roles were very strictly established in comparison to the 1990s.
Ultimately the main distinguishing factor between how the affairs of
presidents Clinton and Kennedy were perceived was the treatment from the media.
The news professionals in the 1960s did not have the technology or inclination to seek
out details about the sordid lives of political figures. Even if the some media
professionals might have felt inclined to report such matters, the metrics of what the
public would be interested in were very narrow at the time. In President Clintons
time, technology had improved exponentially to the point that these types of

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transgressions were impossible to ignore. Also, the realms of what the American
public was interested in were considered to be much more inclusive. The change in
the perception of women played a secondary role in the reporting of the scandals. In
the 1960s, women were only beginning to find their voices in American society and
were generally not strongly advocated for. In President Kennedys time, both the wife
and the other woman would have been subject of blame; the wife for not being
desirable enough, and the adulteress for being too promiscuous. By the 1990s, women
were much more present in society and held more roles in public life. Ultimately, if
either affair had happened in the others time, the repercussions would have been the
same. Neither president was inherently worse, although Kennedy was more prolific.
The simple difference was the treatment of the information by the media.

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Works Cited
1. Advance Report of Final Divorce Statistics, 1989 and 1990. Vol. 43, No. 9
supplement. 32 pp. (PHS) 95-1120
2. Ayres, B. Drummond Jr. The President Under Fire: The History; 14
Presidents Have Been the Talk of the Pillow. The New York Times. 25 January
1998. Web. 17 November 2013.
3. Buonpastore, Katherine A. The Affairs of John F. Kennedy and Bill
Clinton: A Media Revolution That Saved One Presidency and Tarnished Another.
The Catholic University of America. 2010.
4. College enrollment rates of high school graduates, by sex: 1960 to 1998.
U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Education Statistics. August 1999. Web. 17 November 2013.
5. Ortemeyer, Carl. et. al. Marriage and Divorce. National Vital Statistics
reports; volume 3. Washington. National Center for Health Statistics. 1960.
6. Starr, Kenneth. Clinton Accused. Narrative Pt. 1: The Nature of ClintonLewinsky relationship. The Washington Post. 1998. Web. 17 November 2013.
7. Walsh, Kenneth T. The 1960s: A Decade of Change for Women. U. S.
News. 10 March 2010. Web. 17 November 2013.